A Loving Father Disciplines His Child

A Loving Father Disciplines His Child

If God doesn’t discipline you as he does all of his children, it means that you are illegitimate and are not really his children after all. Since we respect our earthly fathers who disciplined us, should we not all the more cheerfully submit to the discipline of our heavenly Father and live forever? –Hebrews 12:8-9

When we hear the word discipline we think about work and self-denial and maybe punishment. Many of us have experienced punishment that was delivered not out of love, but out of wrath, so we recoil from the very idea.

But God’s discipline flows out of his love for us, not his anger. God is not out to get you. He does not want to hurt you. He does not lose his temper and lash out. God disciplines you as his own beloved child. The truth is, it is an uncaring and abusive parent who does not discipline his child.

Your Father is willing for you to hurt a little if it is needed to conform you more fully to his character or to equip you to carry out his calling on your life. And if you want to benefit from his discipline, you must submit to it.

My family loves to recall the time when my sister and I were in the back of the station wagon as toddlers. I don’t know what my sister was doing, but my dad had threatened her a couple of times that if she did not stop, he was going to halt the car and give her a spanking. Sure enough, she didn’t stop. He pulled the car over and opened the back of the car and grabbed for my sister to pull her out and spank her. But instead of grabbing her, he grabbed me by mistake! I was sound asleep in the back of the car and was awoken by an undeserved spanking!

God never makes those kinds of mistakes. His discipline is never too harsh or inappropriate, even when it doesn’t seem right to us. Just as a child might think that going to bed with no supper is not fair or that a grounding would be better than a spanking, we do not always know what is the right discipline for us. But God does. He is the perfect parent who always does what is right with us. He does what is needed to shape our character and correct our course. And while his discipline is rarely pleasant at the time, when we learn from it, it makes us better.

Father, I recognize how often I resist your loving discipline as I seek to satisfy myself and determine my own direction. Thank you for loving me enough to discipline me. Give me the grace to submit to your loving hand.

DIGGING DEEPER